Page 18 - link magazine

Swindon Wide

The forgotten
legacy of WG Little

By Graham Carter of Swindon
Heritage magazine
Swindon’s heritage has been taking
a bashing in recent weeks, but for
those who care about the legacy
the past has left us, the picture is
even bleaker than we might have
realised.
Thanks to GLL’s scheme to turn
the Health Hydro into flats and
councillors’ refusal to rule out such
cultural vandalism in the future,
plus the Borough’s hamfisted The remnants of the old advert at
1-3 Faringdon Road
handling of the aftermath of the
fire at the former Agricultural up money to promote his other
Museum at Coate, another issue passion: music.
has slipped under the radar. WG Little’s only error, it seems,
Just before Christmas it was was to assume that also leaving his
announced that 1-3 Faringdon properties in trust to councillors
Road are to be sold off. meant they would always be kept
Many people will remember these for the good of the community,
buildings as the one-time home of as he intended, rather than being
the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, but flogged off.
since 2012 they have been boarded The fund, we hope, is safe, but
up and neglected, while awaiting in the usual absence of any public
their fate at the hands of Forward consultation, the best hope for
Swindon. preventing the buildings from being
This unaccountable arm of lost to the community forever is a
Swindon Borough Council seems to petition, and that seems to have
have been charged with making key been overlooked, amid desperate
decisions about historic buildings battles to protect other, higher-
in the town, and in the case of profile attacks on our heritage.
1-3 Faringdon Road their plan to You’ll find it here - www.change.
sell them to the highest bidders as org/p/swindon-borough-council-
shops and flats carries the same save-swindon-s-heritage-1-3-
Building Confidence hallmarks as the Health Hydro faringdon-road
controversy.
Even worse than the loss of the
Realising Potential advertisement can still be seen on buildings is the way in which
The remnants of an old
the face of the corner building, and everything WG Little stood for is
being forgotten.
if you look closely you will also see He came from a time when
the initials ‘WGL’ and the date 1892 Swindon was home to people of
- ironically the same year that the true vision, who felt a genuine duty
Health Hydro opened. to the community.
The initials stand for WG Little, a He was the embodiment of a
true visionary with an extraordinary spirit of philanthropy that defined
story, which we will be telling the town, and a caring instinct
in detail in the spring edition that is still evident in the fantastic
of Swindon Heritage when it is work of warm-hearted and caring
published at the end of February. volunteers and organisations in
“Aspire helped me much more than A highly successful draper and Swindon today.
just getting an A in my GCSE Maths, milliner, Little was also a leading Turning his buildings into yet
they helped me get where I am today.” councillor, and saw his duty to more flats tells us much about the
the community as something that
Joshua Snowdon, Law Student at the University of Essex prevailing attitude to Swindon’s
should continue even beyond the rich historic legacies, but we should
grave. think carefully about what is left
So he ensured the great wealth before allowing councillors or
he amassed during his lifetime their proxies to make irreversible
could be used to benefit the people decisions about them.
of Swindon for generations after At a time when local heritage
his death, and in particular he was groups would love to be
anxious his legacy should help concentrating on various positive
young people. projects to celebrate our heritage
• English, Maths and Science • 11+ training and preparation So a trust fund was established,
• Fully Qualified Teachers • Free assessment and first lesson which still exists, and since his and boost the tattered image of the
• Ofsted registered • Boost your child’s confidence death in 1927 it has paid out well town, 2017 already seems certain to
Tel: 07925 193321 | www.aspireeducationcentres.co.uk be another year consigned to trying
over £1million, targeting needy to defend it.
Swindon children and putting
www.swindonheritage.com
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